New aspects regarding the instrumentalists' performance

This article proposes to identify the aesthetic currents and key events that influenced music instrumentalists over the last century, as well as to characterize new outcomes in music performance. The aesthetical, technical, and compositional evolution of music impacted and changed the traditional conception of the performance – that of a musician taking to the stage using only his instrument in order to deliver a rendition of a music score – to a multidisciplinary concept. This new concept brought new demands to the instrumentalists, who had to adapt and improve without guidance or tuition. But it also introduced a source of creativity, fostering new techniques both in music interpretation and in writing. This analysis will focus on traditional musical instruments players and excludes instrumental music of oral tradition and/or improvisation, as well as vocal interpreters.